Can't decide if I am sick to the stomach or ok with this

[HoldOnWoody]

My friend's son is not far off 3 years of age and she let's him sit on her lap and place his hand down her top and, I can only presume, give booby a squeeze. It is obviously a comfort but I actually feel very uncomfortable when it happens. I have never thought that it is OK but I wonder whether I am just being a bit anal and it is not so bad.

It's never a female child is it. Why is that?

PS I think MNers who breastfeed into toddlerdom or do attachment parenting can gang up a bit on dissenters here, probably because they can be quite isolated offline and MN is the only place where there are enough of them to gang up and let off steam.

Yes I do have a go at people who think extended BF is weird.

But not because of lack of RL support. Two friends fed to around 5 and DSIL well past her DDs 3rd birthday (never asked her when she stopped)

I gang up on posters who think it's weird, because it isn't, but many people are afraid to speak up in RL.

I want to shout from the roof tops,
"YOU DON'T HAVE TO STOP BF at one, two or three!"

If your feeding your toddler you are not alone. You didn't see me BFing DD2 in public because it's a dirty secret. I didn't feed her in public because she simply got too long, I needed a sofa or a bed to let her stretch out her legs.

Also most long term BFers tend to feed night and morning anyway.

I think it says something about the kind of woman that wants to bf long after their child is a baby. Although this isn't what I first addressed but seeing as so many of you are talking about bf, why not discuss it?

I think women have an attachment issue. Different strokes for different folks but personally I think women that keep on breastfeeding long after it is a requirement are the weird ones.

Let the flaming continue!! Aha!

God help our next generation of mummy boys and bratty 'princess' girls.

personally I think women that keep on breastfeeding long after it is a requirement are the weird ones.

when does it cease to be a requirement in your eyes though?

My child still seems to think it's a requirement, so I'll be going with his interpretation for now.

Of course you will keep going with it. But that is the type of woman you are. I would let my children eat chocolate all day every day in that case unless I made the GROWN up decision that they can't. If we all let our children do as they please than we would be in for a sorrowful world. Oh perhaps we already are.

Oh OP,

Showing your true colours now, are you?

I would not call anyone sad, just because they feed their babies for longer than I did.

You sound like you have a fixed idea about how things should be done, and start shouting abuse at those that don't agree or challenge you.

It is not necessary, it is not classy, and it really shows you up IMO

HoldOn this page may be of interest to you. Closely related animals (primates) stop suckling when their infants get their first permanent molars, so in humans that would be at about 6 years old.

less closely related mammals nurse for shorter times, but am not sure it's worth comparing them, as they have decidedly different diets to humans (not omnivorous basically).

sorry, xposted, I thought you genuinely wanted to know when other animals weaned. Didn't realise you were just after a fight. My apologies.

Bizarre.

DD2 used to sit on my lap and stroke my breasts. And announce to all and sundry that 'Mumsie has lovely boobies'. Friends were used to it, strangers not so.

What I don't understand from Woody's posts is why she feels so uncomfortable. Does she think the mum is getting a kick out of it? That the boy is getting a kick out of it? Can you explain Woody?

Ok

kveta yeah I was gonna post but it seems a bit pointless really...

OP sure you can feel anyway you want....you can feel uncomfortable about the connection between toddlers and boobs. You can equally feel uncomfortable about ethnic minorities, or seeing fat people in public, or letting the disabled use buses....whatever.

We all feel uncomfortable about something we shouldn't, the difference is some of us are trying to change for the better.

Ds2 is 2.5 and does this. Never had a comfort item like my older 2. Like stroking my chest (not actual boobs because they're in bra). I know other kids who stroke arms or just like feel of skin.

Ds does it when he's tired or stressed.

Mind your own.

Incidentally, generally it's pretty easy to differentiate between "ok" and "sick to the stomach". Maybe see someone about that?

I see you're now saying you didn't mean sick to the stomach.

Still - none of your business really.

I know someone who walks round in her knickers and bra in front of her 19 and 15 yr old sons. That makes me sick to my stomach but a toddler getting comfort from their mother is more than OK it is natural!

We I fed older dd till over 2.5 years so o I think it's your Problem not hers.

Strangely my DD who BF for ever is also the more modest of my DDs about nudity. Her 14 yo, mostly, FF sister doesn't care at home.

I don't have boys, but I'm sure I'd not bother about clothes beyond bra and pants and would go in and out the shower in a towel. Our bathroom is far too small, far easier to wander back to bedrooms for clothes.

MN is crazy at times

"sick to the stomach"